Woman of Tokyo (1933)

Woman of Tokyo (1933) follows the story of Ryoichi, a young man who resides with his sister, Chikako, who is financially supporting his education. Ryoichi is eagerly anticipating his marriage to Harue when he discovers his sister's secret night job. This revelation sets the stage for a somber and dramatic narrative, characteristic of director Yasujirō Ozu's work, which was released in February 1933. The film shares thematic elements with Ernst Lubitsch’s "If I Had a Million" (1932), incorporating fragments of the Lubitsch film within its own narrative. One of the film's intriguing aspects is its brief runtime of only 47 minutes. Despite its brevity, the film is celebrated both domestically and internationally for its quintessential Japanese storytelling. Ozu, known for his admiration of American cinema, often drew inspiration from films like Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane" and Alfred Hitchcock's "Rebecca," which he watched during his time in Singapore during the war. A notable scene in the film involves Ryoichi and Harue attending a movie, where Harue receives a distressing phone call, a sequence that has been analyzed extensively in film studies.